Dreams can come true
by Pooky1234
Summary: This is based on the wonderful radio play House of the Dead and is part of my 'Time can be Rewritten' verse. More explanation inside.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters as they belong to Russell T Davies and the BBC but I do get to play with them. The radio play was written by James Goss and I have borrowed some of his wonderful script.

Notes: I wanted to write something and I realised I could use my '_Time can be Rewritten'_ story in a different way. Ianto was rescued in my story and the original Jack had to leave him behind and go off with the Doctor. With the happenings at the _House of the Dead_ the Doctor gives Jack a chance to be with Ianto once more. I've tinkered a bit with it but I'm going to leave it as it is now. I hope this makes sense and this story, therefore, follows on from Children of Earth with the original timeline and Ianto dying because of the 456. Timelines – well you can change them!

**Dreams can come true**

The twin suns of Barcelona shone brightly as Jack Harkness reached over to gently kiss the Doctor. It seemed like the perfect day but Jack knew all too soon that things were not what they seemed to be; the Time Lord wasn't kissing him back. Jack stopped what he was doing and looked at the seemingly young man in front of him.

'This isn't going to work is it?' he said sadly.

'No Jack, it isn't, and I'm sorry. You know I like youbut I can't give you the love that you need. It's not because you're a man; it's just that there's …..'

'River, I know. That's the story of my life with you isn't it; there's always someone else.'

'Come on, that's not entirely fair, there's someone else for you as well. This, whatever it was, was never real. You always kept something of yourself back and never let yourself go completely. I was a diversion for you as well, Jack. Its Ianto isn't it? For you it'll always be how people compare to Ianto and no-one will ever get there. The dead make so few mistakes and in our minds they become perfect.'

Jack sighed. He knew what the Doctor was saying was true. 'Ianto was always perfect, Doc. I can't explain it. I miss him so much. I never thought that I'd feel like this about anyone. Don't get me wrong I've loved people, I love you but there's just something about him and I can't forget. I still dream of him every night; if I do anything I hear his voice telling me that I'm doing it wrong. I know that somewhere he's happy with another version of me – at least I hope he is – but I've never felt so lonely in my life and I can't even end it all. I have to go on living without him forever and this wound in my heart won't ever heal; everything else heals, but not that.'

The Doctor sat and looked at him questioningly. 'What if I said there was a way, Jack? What if I could sort something?'

'Doc? Sort how?' Jack asked, not sure what the other man meant.

'What if I could put you and Ianto back together again?'

'I don't understand,' Jack said plaintively. 'How could you do that? You've saved him once but he's with another Jack not me. It'll always end the same way, surely.'

'Timelines, Jack; you know that there are many of them, including your own.'

'Yes I know, but Ianto is dead in my timeline; I couldn't save him and he died in my arms without me saying I love you as he died. I've always regretted that. They should have been my final words to him, Doc.'

'In your timeline you just disappeared didn't you, without explanation,' the Doctor asked.

'Yes, I didn't even go to his funeral. I couldn't face it. He was dead; my stupidity had killed him. I couldn't face his family or Gwen. I just left. What's this about, Doc?'

'I want you to go back. A few months after the incident with the 456 something is due to happen at a pub called the _House of the Dead_. It's the most haunted house in Wales and is situated over the Rift. The pub is closing and the owner has hired a medium to hold a last séance. I need you to be there, Jack or there's going to be a catastrophe. Deep in the Rift there lays an entity called Sirath. The medium is more powerful than she knows and Sirath is going to use the opportunity to bring the dead back into the world. I need you to use what's in this to seal the Rift forever.' He handed Jack a box.

'What's in here?' Jack asked.

'Nothing much, just a few rocks but they are full of energy and if you place this in the Rift as the gate between two worlds is opening, it will seal it for all time.'

'I can do that for you, Doc if you want, but I guess that there's something you're not telling me.'

'The dead will be there, Jack. Sirath will use the loved ones of those who are there to persuade them to open the gateway.'

'Ianto!' Jack said suddenly understanding.

'Yes, Ianto, his spirit will be there, Jack. Could you cope with that? Would seeing him again give you what you need? You'll be able to tell him what you couldn't back then.' The Doctor knew that it wouldn't be as simple as it sounded but he kept that to himself. Jack and Ianto could make their decisions at the time. They could decide what to do; there were choices to be made, hard choices which he didn't envy them having to make. He had his own reasons too for putting things right.

'Okay, Doc, let's do it. Take me to the _House of the Dead_.'

As soon he arrived he saw Ianto stood in the corner, on time as always. The young man didn't see Jack at first and he was talking into his comm as if it was really working. Jack looked at him; he seemed so real. Jack wasn't sure what he'd expected but it wasn't this. Ianto looked alive and so handsome. He was wearing the suit he'd worn on the day he'd died in Jack's arms, the grey pinstripe. Jack thought that his heart had stopped and his breathing along with it. He wondered, once again, if he could do this; after all, he could still leave and Ianto wouldn't know he'd even been there. He held onto the box that the Doctor had given him and made his decision; he would see Ianto and seal the Rift to keep Sirath in her place.

Things kicked off after that and Jack couldn't get to Ianto at first. He realised that the ghosts were not as friendly as their families had hoped that they'd be, but Ianto was different some how and when Jack finally got to speak to him Ianto seemed to have no idea that he was dead like the others; he still thought that he was part of Torchwood. Jack didn't understand anymore. He'd worked out his own plan for what he would do. He'd planned to go with Ianto into that space between worlds when the Rift was sealed, after he'd told his lover what he didn't in those last moments. If he couldn't have Ianto he didn't want life either. He hadn't told the Doctor his plans. As he explained to Ianto about the box and what they needed to do it was like old times until Ianto's father appeared and made Jack an offer.

'Take Ianto and leave,' he said simply. Jack didn't understand. How could he just take Ianto; he was dead. But Mr Jones wasn't done with his son. It was then that Ianto leaned the truth and finally understood what had happened to him from his father. The spirit of Mr Jones turned to the immortal. 'My son matters to you doesn't he, Jack?' All Jack could do was nod in agreement. 'I can't believe that you're going to let him die ….. again!' The look on Ianto's face sent a dagger through Jack's heart. There was silence until the young man spoke, his voice soft and questioning.

'Who's dead, Jack?' he asked. 'Who does he mean?'

'The person I knew I'd find if I came here to the last night at the _House of the Dead,_ Ianto Jones.'

'Jack! What!' Ianto's eyes filled with tears as he tired to explain. 'Six months ago you died in my arms. I came looking for you. I was offered a chance and I couldn't resist it,' Jack so much wanted to hold the other man, to comfort him, to feel him in his arms again but Ianto's whole demeanour screamed stay away and Jack didn't know what to do. He hadn't expected this; he hadn't expected Ianto to be so real. He'd never dreamed that he'd be recreated to be used against him by Sirath.

'I can't bear to look at you, Jack,' he heard the young Welshman say. Jack didn't understand why he was saying this. Surely Ianto must know why he'd come, how much he'd needed to see him once more. It was all too much. He didn't want to argue; he didn't want things to end like this. Ianto screamed at him. 'This is about you, Jack, as always!'

Despite Jack's protests the younger man moved away from him. Jack knew he had to get Ianto to listen to him. He pleaded. 'Ianto, don't you understand the only person I wanted to see was you, out of all the people I've known and loved. Don't you get it?' But still Ianto pushed him away.

'Jack, I didn't think the last thing I'd say to you would be this. Jack, just go away please; this is horrible.' Ianto face crumpled as the tears dripped down over his cheeks.

Jack desperately tried to explain how he couldn't go on and how he wouldn't go on. If he couldn't have Ianto, Jack knew that he didn't want to exist; there was no point to living. 'Eternal oblivion, Ianto; it's quite a way to go but when I woke up and found you were dead I tried but I found that I didn't want to live any more and now I have a way to stop this endless existence.

'We could just go,' Ianto said, just like that, out of nowhere. Jack's heart leapt at the possibility.

'Can you do that? Surely, it'll never work but there's only one Ianto Jones.' And now he could be with him for real if what Ianto's father had said was true.

'And there's only one Jack Harkness,' Ianto replied smiling.

Jack was determined. They could do it; they could walk out together. This is why the Doctor had wanted him to come. He was giving them a chance to be together again. He would leave the box open and it would explode as worlds collided. He and Ianto would be together again in life, in reality. He stepped through the doorway happier than he'd ever thought possible.

'Welcome back to the land of the living, Ianto Jones.' He turned expecting to see Ianto just behind him but he wasn't there.

'Ianto,' he shouted.

'I'm not coming, Jack. I'm supposed to be dead.'

Jack needed to say so much but he knew that there was no time. He needed Ianto to know; he needed to tell him. 'Don't leave me, Ianto. I never said it to you properly then and there's more I need to tell you, please.'

'It doesn't need to be said. I know, Jack,' Ianto shouted back.

'Yes it does! Ianto Jones, I love you!' At least he'd said it now, but this was worse. He'd come with the hope of seeing Ianto again and now, before he could stop him, Ianto opened the box to seal the Rift and he was gone, gone forever and Jack was alone once more. He hardly heard what the girl was saying to him and then he heard that all too familiar sound as the TARDIS appeared and the Doctor opened the door.

'Go away, Doc. I can't talk to you. I can't deal with this. The Rift is sealed and you got what you wanted. Ianto wouldn't come with me. I couldn't explain how we could be together, two men not meant to exist who somehow did. He wouldn't listen. He was so brave saving the world all over again and now I've lost him all over again. Why didn't he just let me die the sort of death I wanted? I don't want to live without him, Doc but I seem cursed to do so.'

Jack collapsed to his knees and wept. He felt the Doctor's arms around him pulling him up and taking him into the TARDIS.

'Please, Doc, just leave me like he did, like everyone else does. You said I was wrong, well I must be.'

'Jack,' the Doctor said quietly. 'I knew what would happen. Look, open your eyes.' Jack did as he was told. 'I rescued him for you. The TARDIS pulled him out before the Rift closed. You've got time to explain to him now, to explain it all. I'll find you a time and place where you can be together if that's what you both want. I owed you Jack, for what happened in the past, all of it. But there's more you both need to know. Now you can be together forever. He's come from the land of the dead, Jack. When Sirath gave him life she put no limits on it because she thought he'd help her and then die again. He's like you, Jack; he's immortal.'

'What!' Jack couldn't get his thoughts straight as Ianto began to stir.

'What? Where am I?' he asked. 'I thought I was dead. Jack, what's going on? I don't understand. I made my decision and I shouldn't be here. What have you done?'

'Oh Ianto Jones, we've got forever for me to explain things to you, for you to understand. All you need to know for now is that I love you and we shall never be parted.' He wrapped Ianto in his arms and kissed him until both of them had to stop. 'We're together, Ianto; forever, at last.'

PS I've no idea how Sirath is spelt so I've just chosen to do it phonetically. Also as this scenario could exist in my 'Time can be Rewritten' universe I could use it for longlivelanto stories. I will see.


	2. Chapter 2

_Notes: I wanted to write something and I realised I could use my 'Time can be Rewritten' story in a different way. Ianto was rescued in my story and the original Jack had to leave him behind and go off with the Doctor. With the happenings at the House of the Dead the Doctor gives Jack a chance to be with Ianto once more. Then I got to thinking – if time has changed how would that scene in the bar at the end of 'The End of Time' be different? So I give you…._

**Jack'****s Reward**

Jack sipped his drink and watched the adipose fall from the bar. He was waiting for something. The Doctor had insisted that he come to this place. Jack looked around; the bar was full of creatures from all parts of the universe.

'From the man over there,' the bartender said as he gave him the note. Jack raised his head and saw his Doctor as he'd once been, tall, lanky with great hair and his hands tucked into his trousers, pushing back his long brown coat. How long was it since he'd seen him? He wasn't sure. Jack opened the note and read the message as the Doctor nodded towards the man next to him at the bar. He hadn't noticed that the young man had sat in the vacant seat next to him. The Doctor saluted and Jack did the same a little confused as to why the Doctor had given him the note. He looked at the young midshipman and thought a little flirting might cheer the depressed looking sailor up a little.

'So Alonso, going my way?' he said turning on his best smile.

'How do you know my name,' the other man asked.

'I'm kinda psychic,' Jack replied enjoying the game.

'Really?' Jack nodded. 'D'you know what I'm thinking right now?' Alonso asked leaning in obviously interested.

'Oh yeah,' Jack replied, looking at the man stood behind the midshipman. Seconds later the same man put his arms around Jack and kissed his neck.

'I can't leave you alone for a second can I?' he said jokingly. 'I might have guessed I'd come back and find you chatting up a sailor.' He turned to the other man.

'Hi, my name's Jones, Ianto Jones and you are?' Jack smiled at Ianto using his old chat up line.

'Alonso Frame, Midshipman Frame,' the young man replied rather nervously. 'I'm sorry I didn't know he was with someone.'

'Oh that's alright Jack can't help chatting people up can you, Jack? Male, female, tentacled alien, it's in his DNA to flirt with them all, but he always comes home with me. Don't you?'

'Yep, but it was nice to meet you Alonso Frame.' Jack got up to leave and they walked towards the door.

'I saw the TARDIS parked outside,' Ianto said. 'Did you see him?'

'Yes, he introduced me to Alonso. I guess he thought I was still on my own and needed distracting. Timelines can be such a bother. He wasn't to know that you weren't dead anymore. Come on let's get to the hotel, you've got far too many clothes on at the moment and I've had a little too much to drink.' He looked back to the bar briefly.

'You could have invited him to join us if you'd wanted, Jack,' Ianto said raising an eyebrow.

'Nah,' he said as he kissed Ianto's cheek and then begun to run ahead. 'But maybe next time!'


End file.
